Drawing on court records from London and the South West, Sexual Forensics in Victorian and Edwardian England explores medical roles in trials for sexual offences. Its focus on sexual maturity, a more flexible concept than the legal age of consent, enables histories of sexual crime to be seen in a new light.

Autorentext

Victoria Bates is Lecturer in Modern History at the University of Bristol, UK. She has a particular research interest in the social and cultural history of medicine in modern Britain, including medico-legal history and medical humanities.

Inhalt

Introduction: Sex, Sexuality and Sexual Forensics

1. Knowledge: The Foundations of Forensics
2. Injury: Signs and the Sexual Body
3. Innocence: Chastity and Character
4. Consent: Violence and the Vibrating Scabbard
5. Emotions: Medicine and the Mind
6. Offenders: Lust and Labels
   Conclusions: Medicine, Morality and the Law